Havant want league to be delayed

Havant chairman Chris Pickett has written to England Hockey asking for the 2020/21 National League season to be delayed due to the pandemic.
His concerns are mainly to do with players travelling to and from away games in wet weather without changing rooms being open.
‘It’s not ideal,’ he said, ‘but we have to get on with it. ‘There could also be problems with travelling - in our 2nd XI, for example, there are a lot of youngsters who don’t drive.
‘I would have liked to have seen the league postponed until the new year. We could have played clubs like Fareham, Chichester and Portsmouth rather than travel long distances.’
Havant and their league rivals are allowed to postpone a certain percentage of their games in 2020/21 for Covid-related reasons.
If both teams involved in a game can’t play, they are allowed to agree a 0-0 draw.
If a club postpones more than its allocated percentage, they will have to forfeit each match 3-0.
‘You could see some weird results,’ said Pickett. ‘Frankly, I have grave concerns whether the league will actually be finished.’
Havant enter the new National South season against Southgate at Havant College on Sunday (12.30) with a much-changed squad.
Argentinians Manuel Silvetti and Federico Bertoni and Pakistan international Atiq Arshad have not returned, while Michael Deller-Merricks has joined Basingstoke and Tom Croft-Baker is at university.
In addition, Charlie Stubbings has moved away to Teddington to work and the influential Matt Cox is still waiting for a knee operation and could miss a large chunk of the campaign.
Jakub Janicki, meanwhile, is playing in Berlin this season.
There is a Polish feel to the squad, though, with top goalkeeper Maciej Pacanowski and striker Maciej Janiszewski returning for another season.  They will be joined by new signing and fellow Pole Eryk Bembeneck.
Tahsin Chowdhury, who has played National League hockey for Lichfield, has also signed along with Fareham’s Jamie Rawlings, who had a spell with Reading last season.